California’s chief political watchdog, Ann Ravel, recently
announced plans to regulate political websites that accept payments
from campaigns.California bloggers right, left and center
quickly criticized the proposal for quashing free speech and
putting them at a disadvantage to out-of-state competitors.

“The Internet is global,” wrote Mark Paul on his blog,
the California Fix. “The commission’s jurisdiction is limited
to California. If campaigns find it useful to make payments to
online sock puppets, won’t they funnel the dollars to bloggers
living outside the state? Do we want to send jobs out of
California?”

Out-of-state competition might not be a problem, say some legal
experts, because California’s Fair Political Practices Commission
could cross state lines and police out-of-state blogs and
websites, including international news… Read More